Low cost chemical sensor device for supersensitive pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) explosives detection based on titanium dioxide nanotubes

Within the last decade there has been a great increase in the need of trace and ultra-trace explosive detection. In this report, we demonstrate a new and versatile type of chemical explosive sensors based on metal oxide nanotubes easily made, even with the need of a low budget. We describe the step-by-step procedure to fabricate a sensing chip device, beginning with the synthesis of the starting materials to the point of supersensitive measurements of PETN explosive. As a result, the whole process actually is one of the most cost-effective methods to produce explosive sensing devices reported until now. The achieved chemical sensor device will be able to detect PETN explosive down to ∼112 ppt.